49ers G.M. defends decision to release B.J. Daniels

SANTA CLARA -- General manager Trent Baalke spoke Friday for the first time since the 49ers released rookie quarterback B.J. Daniels and replaced him with former Arizona Cardinals starter John Skelton.

Baalke, speaking on his weekly radio show on 95.7 The Game, echoed what coach Jim Harbaugh has stated: They preferred Skelton's experience but wanted Daniels back on the practice squad even though they knew the Seahawks might sign him. The first question asked was whether the Seahawks' move surprised him.

"Not surprising. Not surprising," Baalke said. "B.J. is a talented young man and done nice things. They obviously were looking at him in the draft themselves. We anticipated that was a team we might have to work through in order to get him through waivers. It turns out they claimed him. It wasn't a surprise at all."

What's most disappointing, you lose the talent or he gives them a wealth of knowledge of what you do?

"Oh I think that's overstated in this league. Each and every game plan is a little different. The game plan we use for Seattle moving forward is going to be different from the one we used last time. So that's a little bit overstated. But certainly he's a talented young man.

"We were hoping to get him through and onto the practice squad. But anytime you release somebody and they have to clear waivers, you understand that. When you make that decision to put him on waivers, you understand you might lose the young man and have to move on to the next person."

Why would you even put him through the process?

"That's a decision we made. Internally we had discussions on it from Day 1, when we made the original decision to put him on the 53-man squad. It was just a decision we made, we felt comfortable making it. There's no reason to discuss it any further."

What does John Skelton bring that B.J. didn't have?

"Experience. Experience. He's played in games, been around the block. He's got experience, and that's the one thing that B.J. didn't have."

Why more experience when you have Colt McCoy as a backup?

"That's just the direction we felt we needed to go at the time. I wouldn't read too much into it. The decision was made. We felt we needed to bring somebody in that had a little more experience than B.J. had. ... Now it's up to us to make it work."

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Here is what Harbaugh had to say today on the Daniels-Skelton swap:

When we spoke to you on Wednesday, QB B.J. Daniels was still in limbo. Obviously he's not with the team. What's your reaction? Are you disappointed that you don't have him anymore on the squad?

"Yes, we would have liked to have had B.J. back on the practice squad, and we don't. So, rolled the dice there, and now we don't have him."

Did you, was that a risk?

"Risk that we thought it could happen? Sure."

But, them in particular, the Seahawks, did you know that the Seahawks were interested in him during the draft? Did you have a sense of which teams might be interested in B.J. if you put him on waivers?

"Speculation, yeah. But we knew that they had worked him out, et cetera."

Did the fact that QB John Skelton worked out for the Titans on Tuesday, did that play into your decision? Did the decision come sooner than maybe you would have liked to have made that decision?

"No. I mean, the decision came when it came. Called him up and we wanted to sign him."